This book is the author’s diary for 1966, during which he travelled across the length and breadth of Britain attempting to travel behind as many steam locomotives as possible before, as thought at the time, they vanished from the British railway landscape forever.

Keith Widdowson worked for British Railways, and by 1966, he had clocked up several years of service.

By then, steam locomotives were rapidly vanishing from the British railway scene.

A perk of his job was free and highly discounted travel, which allowed him to endure many overnight and lengthy expeditions throughout the country.

He quickly clocked up a great mileage in his quest to see and travel behind as many locomotives as possible that he had not seen before, often travelling for many hours to catch a single locomotive, sometimes with the companionship of fellow devotees.

Published in April 2022 by The History Press and written by Keith Widdowson, this soft cover book measures around 156 mm x 233 mm, has 160 pages and about 140 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, and a published price of £17.99, and at the time of writing, it is available from Amazon for £12.99.


Keith Widdowson searched his archives to create a chronological account of his mission to find the steam locomotives still working in 1966.

With 12 chapters neatly divided into months, and many photographs and notebook extracts, the book will bring back memories for railway enthusiasts who travelled many miles searching for the handful of remaining steam locomotives and even fewer trains hauled by steam.

The author’s incisive writing allows the reader to share his travels, starting in January 1966 whilst commuting between Waterloo, Woking, and Wessex.

February brought visits to the death throes of the Somerset and Dorset, the Fawley branch, Bath and Brighton.

March is aptly titled March Madness as Keith ventured to Shrewsbury, Exeter and Carlisle, while in April, he explored Windermere, Manchester, and the Longmoor Military Railway.

Summer brought visits in June to Alnwick, Northumberland, and Carlisle, in July he chased down Jubilee Class locomotives in Barnsley, Bridlington and Aberdeen, and in August he was pursuing Britannia Class locomotives in Crewe, Preston, and Edinburgh.

Many miles were accumulated in September on visits to Stranraer, Llandudno, and Dorset, and in October to Lymington, Goole, and Bradford.

The shortening days of November saw Keith enjoying rail tours to Stratford, Bacup, and Weymouth, and his year’s journeys concluded with December’s meanderings on the Southern Region to Shanklin, Kensington, and Hampshire.

The author’s choice of title for March 1966 is well-suited to the hundreds if not thousands, of miles he accumulated during the month.

As always, he was accompanied by his camera, resulting in the two photos below. However, poor reproduction has done the author a disservice with images of a quality below that which today’s printing techniques can reasonably be expected to achieve.

Although in 1966, there weren’t the same number of rail tours as now, they often featured locomotives straying far from their normal territory.

The author joined such a tour in March 1966, which took A4 Pacific No. 60024 Kingfisher from Waterloo to Exeter as shown by his souvenir ticket below.

The photos below illustrate the author’s many long journeys in pursuit of steam. The top-right image was taken four days after that on the left, but as the author writes in his caption, it involved an overnight journey to arrive in Carlisle in time to capture Britannia No. 70048 The Territorial Army 1908-1958 at 6.30 in the morning.

During September, the author continued his expeditions across the UK, visiting Stranraer in Scotland, Llandudno in North Wales, and Dorset in the south of England, which produced the images below.

His endurance in chasing particular locomotives can be seen in the log at the bottom right recording his journeys behind Merchant Navy Class No. 35008 Orient Line, during which, as he says in the caption to the top-right image, he travelled 630 miles over three days.

This book brings back memories of spending hours on cold station platforms, waiting for an elusive steam locomotive, or travelling overnight to hunt them down while still running in distant parts of the UK.

The narrative flows, is never dull, and written in a style that is more a travelogue rather than a dry record of numbers and dates.

The author’s writing style is a pleasure to read, and his descriptions of sudden changes of plans or his surprise at unexpected sights places the book above the average for similar volumes.

The narrative resurrects the long-vanished world of the end of steam, whilst the many evocative images capture the author’s chase after often-elusive locomotives.

It brings to life the privations often endured by enthusiasts in steam’s final years and gives a privileged insight into Britain’s railways as they used to be.

Despite the poor photographic reproduction, the book is a treat for anyone who has even the slightest interest in railways and thoroughly deserves a rating of 5/5.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and The History Press.

We would like to thank The History Press for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.